If you don’t like this punk version, please check out the crooner version or the Woody Guthrie-styled (original) version I’ve posted. It appears people like the crooner version best. This one, however, might be referred to as “old man punk”!

Derivation of this song: After writing this song in a Woody Guthrie style (please see the other versions – I hope to learn which works best for you) I realized I wanted to bring it closer to the present and make it more modern, and being a protest song, it seemed punk was the way to go. Thus, the result you see here. (Lyrics are below)

But NO, I am NOT advocating violence, but trying to illustrate how frustrating it is to see and hear the constant lies and distortions of many pundits, news writers, and bloggers, especially at Fox News. It has been frightening how our country has been so purposefully divided in two by people who have no incentive except to acquire money and power at our (taxpayers) expense. This is corruption, and the vast bulk of it seems to reside in the Republican Party, who have pandered first to the religious right and now to the so-called tea party, who have loud voices but no idea how to run a government, nor any apparent reason to care about the common good. Please don’t vote for Republicans – they do NOT have your best interests at heart, no matter what they say, unless you are in the 1% of millionaires and billionaires who will never have to worry about having food on the table, ever, unlike most of the rest of us (especially if Republicans have their way).

Here are the lyrics:
Lyrics:
Turn Off the Radio
Timothy Prosser, 2012

(chorus)
Turn off the radio
That news is killing me
Can’t stand the politics and lies
Can’t stand the tragedies
Turn off the TV
If I see one more talking head
I’m going to turn up on the nightly news
And some lying S.O.B.’s going to turn up dead

(verse 1)
You can’t afford to trust
A political machine
When everyone says the same words
On the same day and it’s routine
They’re obviously not thinking for themselves
Like the Borg* combined with zombies
Would you let them eat your head?

(repeat chorus 1)

(verse 2)
When a bunch of old billionaire bastards
Make their own reality
And twist the minds of millions
With an army of lying dweebs
Divide our country in two
Stoke up a ton of hate
They are poisoning our culture
Can we save it, is it too late?

(chorus 2)
Turn off the radio
Fox News is killing me
And so is CNN and CBS
and NBC
Turn off the TV
If I see one more talking head
I’m going to turn up on the nightly news
And some lying S.O.B.’s going to turn up dead

(verse 3)
But behind the smoke and mirrors
There’s an elephant in the room
A horde of greedy companies
Orchestrating our doom
But as long as they make money
They don’t care who they harm
‘Cause they’ve taken over Washington
With a locust-lobbyist swarm

(chorus 3)
Turn off the radio
That news is killin’ me
They’re trying to drive the middle class
Down into poverty

Turn off the radio
Turn off the TV
Turn off the radio …

* Borg – reference to hive-minded aliens in the American TV series “Star Trek”
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